One could make
the argument that Edward Scissorhands (1990)
is the ultimate Tim Burton movie. It is set in a pastel-coloured American
suburb, it has a memorable score by composer Danny Elfman and it marked the
first collaboration between Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Furthermore it has a
small key role for horror icon Vincent Price, whose movies Burton watched as a
child. It is unconventional for sure, but like a lot of Burton’s work it has
become iconic to the point of influencing pop culture.
I was very young
when this movie came out in theatres and like most of Tim Burton’s movies it is
in a bit of a grey area when it comes to age restriction. Batman Returns for instance is a comic book movie, but a comic book
movie in which one villain is electrocuted to death and another spews black
blood out of his mouth before dying. Edward
Scissorhand is nowhere near as graphic, but it is probably still a good
idea that I waited until I was in my teen years before watching it on TV.
I had only
passing knowledge of Vincent Price’s work yet I understood that in this movie
he plays a Dr. Frankenstein type character and Edward (Depp) is his life’s
work. Inside a gothic mansion this inventor has given life to a pale-skinned
artificial being, but unfortunately he dies of a heart attack before he can
complete his creation. Instead of lumbering around the countryside like
Frankenstein’s monster Edward remains alone in the mansion until he is found,
by of all people, an Avon door-to-door saleswoman. Peg (a perfectly cast Diane
Wiest) is initially frightened at the sight of Edward and the fact he has
scissors for hands, but after seeing he is harmless decides to bring him home
with her to the suburbs.
Suburbia is
always an interesting place to set a movie. On the surface it looks very idyllic,
with freshly mowed lawns in the summer, houses that all look the same, and
friendly neighbours. With his dishevelled hair, black clothes, and of course
those sharp hands, Edward stands out like a sore thumb in an environment like
that. Burton, with a gothic appearance all his own, apparently felt a similar
sense of isolation growing up in suburban Burbank, California. However Edward
not only manages to fit in over time, but also becomes somewhat of a local
celebrity.
A lot of the
movie’s humour comes from seeing Edward using his hands to trim the
neighbourhood hedges, grooming dogs and even styling the hair of the
neighbourhood women. It is at times tense seeing all these sharp blades getting
so close to people’s faces, but Edward knows what he is doing and everyone
loves his work. The problem is Edward is also falling in love with Peg’s
daughter Kim (Winona Ryder) much to the anger of her jealous boyfriend Jim
(Anthony Michael Hall). The innocent Edward is easy to manipulate and it also
easy to turn the friendly neighbours against him. With his dark appearance and
sharp appendages Edward does look like a monster, however ordinary people, even
the friendly ones living in sunny suburbia, can also do monstrous things.
Nowadays Johnny
Depp is known for making poor artistic choices with his roles and for a slew of
personal problems, but his work as Edward is among some of his best. Despite
not having many lines of dialogue and being covered in makeup, Depp manages to
convey the range of emotions Edward discovers throughout his existence, from
loneliness to happiness and eventually love.
Then of course there
is the movie’s final scene that manages to be both dark, sad, heart-warming and the perfect way to end this modern fairy tale as a grandmother finishes
telling Edward's story to her granddaughter while it snows outside. Depp and
Burton have worked together plenty of times afterwards, but they have yet to
top that scene.
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